Fashion Scoops: Wink and You’ll Miss It … Strings Attached … No Souk for You …

WINK AND YOU’LL MISS IT: Wink designer Wynn Smith is skipping the runways in September and instead is planning to send out a stylized look book of his spring collection. "We thought with the craziness of this short season that this would be the...

WINK AND YOU’LL MISS IT: Wink designer Wynn Smith is skipping the runways in September and instead is planning to send out a stylized look book of his spring collection. "We thought with the craziness of this short season that this would be the perfect time to do something different," Smith said.

The collection was inspired by the work of fashion photographer Denis Piel, he said, but that’s an idea that would have been hard to get across on the runway, so the look book will be photographed in a similar style to a shoot Piel once created for GQ, in which a woman is depicted as being obsessed with her boss and following him on a trip he takes with his girlfriend. The book will be photographed by Jan Dikkers and Roman Barrett and available to editors after the Paris collections.

"I remember seeing this story in college and thinking it was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen," Smith said. "We don’t want to duplicate it exactly, but to recreate it the Wink way."

STRINGS ATTACHED: For Holt Renfrew’s month-long Viva Italia festival that kicks off on Thursday, Piazza Sempione is planning to dress a few notable guests — five marionettes from the Gianni and Cosetta Colla Theatre Company. The company created costumes for the puppets based on its fall collection, which will be featured in performances that include operas, tragedies and traditional dances such as the Tarantella.

Cosetta Colla, artistic director of the troupe, said the collaboration was based on two companies that share the same values, but even she was a little perplexed by the fashion statement: "Who would have thought that our puppets could rival the beautiful women who model them?" she asked.

NO SOUK FOR YOU: A spokeswoman for Elite Models, which represents Lauren Bush, said the first niece "wasn’t feeling well and was sick to her stomach" when she arrived in Barcelona for fashion week there, and could not corroborate an item in the Spanish daily La Vanguardia that Bush canceled her plans to model in a fashion show Thursday because of its Arabian theme.

Agence France Press, quoting the paper, said Bush, 17, had intended to model for Toypes, designed by Jorge Galinanez, but refused when she saw the harem pants, turbans and tunics and saw the set and heard music that fit the Arabian theme. Her mother, Sharon, who accompanied her, insisted her daughter not participate, given the political situation and the imminent anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.The report added that Bush had been scheduled to do Barcelona fashion week last year, but canceled because it fell right after Sept. 11.

The Elite spokeswoman seemed skeptical that Bush canceled the show for political reasons. "That doesn’t sound like her. Then again, she is a vegetarian." Bush herself was in transit and could not be reached for comment.

MODEL RIGHTS: If you can’t win them over with words, win them over with beauty. That’s part of the strategy behind a protest that the Italian model union, Federmodelle, is planning to stage before the Italian parliament next month in Rome. Organizers plan to bring 40 models before the body in an effort to push for stronger rights for these women.

At issue: legal residence for models that come from other countries, such as the Czech Republic and Poland. Current Italian law makes it almost impossible for these women to gain legal work status and all the protections that come with it. Federmodelle hopes the protest will persuade the government to include the foreign models under a specific article that grants such rights and protections.

IMMORALTIZED IN POST: A handful of Italians designers are getting stamped. On Aug. 30, Italy’s national postal service issued 15 million stamps bearing fashion creations from Dolce & Gabbana, Giorgio Armani, Prada, Krizia, Gianfranco Ferré and Laura Biagiotti. The project, called "Italian Design," was masterminded with the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana. To illustrate the 42-cent stamps, each designer sent an image with an outfit that is quintessential to the company’s style. Cases in point are a black bra from Dolce & Gabbana, a gray pinstriped suit by Armani, and Prada’s brocade court pumps and similar skirt.

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